Journey To The Masters
by FanFictionKatie
Summary: A girl's brother is sent her waterbending scrolls, and she has to journey to confront the masters on the problem.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA, (although I wish I do)

I sat up in bed and yawned. Today is going to be just another normal day. I got up, got ready for the day ahead of me. I headed out the door; almost face planted, as I trip over the newspaper on the doormat.' Huh'. I thought I already picked that up. I bend down and grab it. It's all rolled up, like a scroll, and the paper was very old looking, fragile almost. I carefully unroll it and examine it. It has pictures of people waving their arms around and controlling blue stuff. I blink and look again. It's a waterbending scroll! I gasp. Only benders receive those! Well, it can't be for me, it must be for my perfect brother, David. I call him over and give it to him, so he can start practicing.

"Dave! Guess what!" I hollered

"What?" he shouted back from inside.

"You got a waterbending scroll!" I excitedly told him. David runs ran over to me, and carefully lifts the scroll out of my hands

"Wow! Wow! I'm gonna start practicing right now!" He squealed excitedly. He rushes over to the sink, and gets a cup of water. He inspects the first move, arranges his stance, and performs the action. Nothing happens. Not even a twitch from the water. His face falls. 'This is the simpeliest move in waterbending, how could he not be able to do it?' I thought. I check the name on the scroll. Yup, it's definitely for him. He stares glumly at the glass of water. Any waterbender could complete that easy move. How could Dave, my perfect brother, not be able to?

"Heh, maybe I should try," I joke, trying to cheer him up.

"Maybe... Maybe you should try," he says sadly, after trying the move once more. I was taken aback by his suggestion, does he really think I could do it? The scroll has his name printed neatly on the back. David. Not Kira. David. I quickly recover, and laugh. I theatrically read the scroll, and exaggeratedly perform the movements, trying to cheer him up. To my surprise, the water rose from the cup in a small sphere effortlessly. 'Wait, what?' My hands drop, and the sphere plops back into the cup. I'm at a loss for words, as is Dave. There is no way that just happened. Just to be sure, I get into the position, and do it again. It works. Holding my stance, I glance over my shoulder to make sure this isn't a prank from Dave. His face is blank. I'm a bit offended. He wanted to be a waterbender that bad? He sees the expression I inevitably made, and gasps.

"No no! I'm not jealous, really I'm not! I'm so happy for you! I just don't know how the masters made this mistake. I'm really happy for you Kira," he explains. I let out a sigh of a relief. I never knew Dave to be selfish, anyway. Then, a thought pops into my head. If the masters did make a mistake, I would have to go confront them, all by myself, but not just yet. First, I would have to wait nine more days to receive the others of the ten beginner's waterbending scrolls. It's the law, really, to not abandon your first ten scrolls. It's a duty to the country to learn at least that much, so you have control over your element so that you don't cause any accidents. After I receive the other scrolls, I'd have to set off on my own journey, and learn the scrolls on the way. I don't know why you have to confront the masters completely on your own, that's just how it works. Even if you are just a twelve year old. So until I leave for my journey, I'd prepare, and receive the rest of my scrolls. Then I'd be off.

The next day, I get up, go and get the paper, and see the second waterbending scroll. I flip it over, and see it still has the name "David" printed on it. I also skim over the moves, which appear to be harder than yesterdays. There are two on the scroll, whereas there was only one yesterday, (The sphere one). I try out the first move, which was creating a string of water from a solid source. I position my feet, hold my hands at the angle illustrated on the scroll, and eased the water upwards. A thin stream of water forms, going up and down, moving at my command. I drop it back in to the cup, and then I looked at the next move, which is picking up water from a puddle, or from where it's been dropped. First, I dump the cup of water onto the carpet. Then, I spread out my feet some more, arch my fingers as if playing piano, and lift up the spilled water. This move is more difficult, but after my second try, the water slowly lifts off the floor, forming into a shape similar to the sphere on my first scroll.

I spend another hour practicing my new movements, then start packing for my journey.

The next day, the next scroll arrives, but I'm too busy packing to practice it. The same happens for seven more days, and then the final day arrives. I'm all packed for my long journey, but I haven't practiced my scrolls. That's fine; I can just learn them during the trip, like what I thought before. I look over my packed bags. I have clothes, food, books, the scrolls, water, and much more. I sigh, and dump them all out. Then I grab a backpack. I put two bottles of water, a ham sandwich, and the scrolls in it, and zip it. I have to pack light. Then I open the door, and set off.

A/N I loved writing this first chapter, but I need reviews on how I could make anything better. Suggestions please!


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA. If I did, there would be a lot more seasons._

As I step outside, rain is pounding down. I quick grab a gray umbrella, and then keep going. As I look around, the rain mesmerizes me as it never had before. I marveled the fact that I could pick out one droplet, and just hold it in my hand. After ten days, I'm still not over the shock of being a waterbender. And even more crazy, I have to go confront the _masters themselves!_ Of course, that's what I'm doing right now, I think as I walk through the city.

Once I leave town and enter the forest, I decide to rest under the dense trees. I'm soaked, despite the umbrella. But.. I am a waterbender. I try to bend water off one of my shoes. Just one droplet comes off. Makes sense, it's all I've learned so far. But then I remember another move I learned in the second scroll, picking up water once it's spilled. I don't remember it exactly, so I reach into my pack and grab the scroll. Once I read it over I stand up, arrange my stance, and try it out. As I slowly lift my hands, the water quivers a little at first, then starts to lift. I turn the water I lifted into a sphere, and drop it gently on the ground. Then I sit down, glad to be dry. I think about doing the third scroll, but I decide against it, since I'm so tired. So I quickly pack up my umbrella and second scroll, use my pack as a makeshift pillow, and go to sleep.

I open my eyes, gray morning light seeping in through the treetops. I sit up, stiff from lying on the ground all night. I open my pack, and make sure everything is there. Yup. My stomach growls, and I realize I didn't eat lunch or supper yesterday. I grab my ham sandwich and eat about half. I have to ration food, or I'll never survive the journey. And packing a ton of it would just slow me down from the weight. I drink part of my first water bottle, and that shaves the edge off my hunger. I'll have to find my own food later, but not yet.

As I keep going, I read through the third scroll. There are three moves on it today. Freezing water, Heating/melting water, and basic shaping of ice. Simple enough. I notice that the stances using ice are like those of an earthbender. I guess it is a solid. I reread the first move, dump out my full water bottle, and jerk my hands, slowly emitting ice breath. The water slowly freezes, making a crackling sound as it does. I look at the second move, melting water. I get into my stance, swirl my hands, and lower them. The ice sizzles, and liquifies. I freeze it once again and look at the third move, shaping the ice. This looks exactly like an earthbending scroll, which I've seen firsthand. I get into a sturdy stance, stomp, and the ice lifts off the ground. I shift my hands, and it turns into a sphere. Satisfied, I melt it, and stream it back into the water bottle. Those moves were harder. I put the third scroll away, but keep the water bottle out. As I walk, I absently lift and drop a sphere of water out of it. I notice the ground steepening. I'm probably approaching one of the first mountains. To get to the masters, you have to cross mountains, go through forests, trek through a desert, and somehow get through ocean. At first I was worried, but I'm a waterbender! I have to be able to get through this. I wish I didn't have to go alone. Well, I can't bring anyone from my hometown, which is where I currently live. Weird rules, but I didn't make them. I'm snapped out of my thoughts by a rustling in the trees nearby. Not knowing battle moves, I just create a sphere of ice. I hold a sturdy stance, glancing around for the source of the noise.

"And what are you going to do with that? Throw it at me?" says the maker of the noise, emerging from the trees. It's a girl, with short blonde hair and amber eyes. She looks about my age. She laughs. "Don't look so freaked out, I'm just another traveler." I melt the sphere, bending it back into my water bottle. "Sorry to scare you, though. I'm Angela. Most call me Angie. What's your name?" she asks.

"I'm Kira. What are you traveling for?" I ask.

"You won't believe me, but I'm going to see the masters," she says. I nod.

"Me too, actually. They messed up my waterbending scrolls. Why are you going?" I ask.

"I dunno. I'm an explorer," she replies. "Wait, you're a waterbender?" she asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm a firebender. I have my scrolls in this bag," she says, pointing to a backpack. Then she laughs again. "Of course you're a waterbender. Ocean blue eyes, brown hair, even the traditional southern hairstyle!" she exclaims.

"Stereotypical much?" I mutter. We laugh. "Hey, do you want to travel with me? We're heading to the same place, anyway."

"Sure!" Angie accepts. We keep walking in silence for about an hour, until Angie speaks. "Hey, do you mind if I show you some firebending? It's so fun, I just want to do it constantly."

"Yeah, go ahead. I know how you feel, waterbending is awesome too," I reply. Angie nods, and creates a small flame, light blossoming from her hand. I watch it carefully.

"That's amazing! When did you start practicing?" I ask.

"Years ago. I can do better than that. Watch this!" Angie exclaims, shooting a blast of fire over the tree tops. I freeze in my tracks. The fire is going to burn those trees! But just before it does, Angie stops it middair, and dissolves it.

"That was incredible! But, I thought firebending was uncontrollable. You know, that once you create it you can't stop it.." I say.

"Like I said, I've been practicing for a year. Being out in nature helps me pick up techniques. Hey, by the way, when did you start practicing?" Angie asks.

"Ten days ago," I say, feeling unimpressive.

"Well can you show me something other than a sphere of ice? I've never seen waterbending besides that before," she says. I nod.

"Well let me find a cool move, I still have some scrolls that I haven't practiced. I reach in to my bag for the fourth scroll, and open it up. The first move is making a small wave, just pushing and pulling the water. Well I can't do that one, I don't have a body of water nearby. Maybe we'll run into something later. I only have this bottle of water.

"Kira, look! A pond!" Angie exclaims. I shrug and smile. How convenient. We walk up to it, and I instantly realize something is off about the pond. I look at it. Oh, I see what it is. The pond is perfectly still, and clear. No plants, no animals, no dirt or anything blocking it up. Angie must have noticed it too. "Uh, what's up with the crazy-water?" she asks, side glancing it. I laugh.

"It's spirit water. I can't believe we found it! You know, this is a really rare phenomenon. It can be used for healing, drinking, and best of all-" I pause.

"Tell me!" Angie urges.

"It can send anyone to the spirit world," I finish.

"What? Like the Avatar?" she asks. I nod.

"Hey, we should try it. It's completely safe, and we aren't exactly in a hurry," I suggest. Angie looks at me excitedly, and nods her head.

"Wait..But how do we do it?" she asks.

"Just do what I do," I say. I place my hand in the water slowly, and so does she. The water starts to glow, and the wind starts howling.

"Just keep your eyes open! That's all you need to remember!" I shout over the noise.

"Okay!" she shouts back. Our eyes water as we both struggle to keep them open. Then suddenly the wind calms, and all is silent. We're still by the pond. I keep my eyes open. Angie does also, and then they start glowing white. Like the avatar. I can tell mine are too. The world vanishes around us, and we're left in blackness, just staring into each other's eyes. Then scenery starts to form around us again, and it's definitely not the pond that we were just by. It's.. the spirit world, from the looks of it. Just to make sure, I try to bend. It doesn't work, so that confirms it. Angie looks at me, and I can tell she's just as amazed as I am. It actually worked! Someone grabs me by the shoulder, and I whirl around. It's avatar Ying! He was the avatar that came after Sith, who came after Brunko, who came after Korra, who came after Aang, who came after Roku, who came after Kyoshi, and so on. But why is he here?

"Kira. You've come," he says, still holding my shoulder. I stare up at him, speechless. Angie is too.

"Um. Hi?" I manage to say weakly.

"I assume you have received your waterbending scrolls," he says.

"Yeah... Sort of," I reply. "But why does that matter to you? You're the avatar!" I exclaim. Ying looks confused.

"Wait, nobody has told you?" he asks. Now I'm bewildered.

"Told me _what?" _I ask.

"You are the next avatar." I stand still as the words sink in.

"You must be mistaken." I shake my head.

"No. You must begin your training soon," he says.

"What? Why soon?" I ask, my nervousness growing by the second.

"Uh, duh. You're the avatar. Don't you wanna be all cool, whoosh splash pow?" Angie cuts in. I didn't realize she'd been listening. Ying nods.

"Oh. That's it? That's the only reason? The world isn't in danger or anything?" I ask.

"Nope!" Ying says.

"Wait, don't you have some epic avatar way to say that?" I ask.

"I was never good at making speeches," Ying says defensively. "Buy you have to go now, begin your training."

"But how? I need to know how!" I say, but he has already sent us back. I'm sitting in the grass, drenched in sweat. I look over, and see Angie next to me.

"Uh.. Just making sure, you saw all that too?" I ask.

"Yeah. I saw that. Wow," she says.

"Wow," I repeat.

_A/N: Sort of a cliffhanger. Just to get it straight, I made up a few avatars so that Kira could have waterbending as her first element. Please review!_


	3. Chapter 3

"If I confront the thought that I'm the avatar right now, I think I'll explode. So.. Yeah," I say, my eyes still wide from the visit to the spirit world.

"Well, maybe you could just show me that wave move you were going to do?" Angie suggests.

"You know, you are the perfect friend, even though I met you less than ten minutes ago," I say, and open up the fourth waterbending scroll once again. I look at the wave move, then try it out. I stand in front of the pond, get into a strong stance, and just push my hands back and forth. The water moves slightly. Then a wave forms, moving back and forth under my control. I decide to try to take it to the next level. I pull my hands upwards slowly, and the wave gets larger. But, inevitably, since I'm not the greatest waterbender yet, the wave stops, and splashes back into the pond, not even leaving a ripple (since it's spirit water).

"Cool!" Angie exclaims. I smile.

"Shall we continue our journey?" I ask.

"Yes, we shall," Angie answers, and starts walking around the pond.

"Hey, wait!" I exclaim.

"What?" Angie asks.

"Come back here." Angie does, and shoot ice breath at the pond. It freezes over, and I thicken it some more. Then we walk/slide across, saving a lot of time.

"Sweet," Angie says, grinning. "I think it was a good idea to befriend a waterbender."

"Yup," I say.

We continue in silence for awhile, until we come up to a mountain. The first true mountain, at least. It's extremely steep, and void of all vegetation. It's bare stone except for snow on top.

"This," Angie begins as she stares up at the massive mountain, "Is going to be tough," she finishes. I nod silently in agreement, and we start climbing.

"Ugh, can't you do some waterbending to get us up faster?" Angie pants after about two hours.

"Let me climb up to that ledge so I can check my scrolls," I reply, pointing upwards a few feet. We make it up, and I open my pack. I take out the scrolls 4-10, looking for something helpful. After skimming them, I come up with two moves that could help. "Hey, check these moves out, they could make this faster. One move is the water whip, which could pull us up if I latch it on to one of the protruding rocks or ledges up there," I suggest.

"Yeah, but the water whip wouldn't latch, it'd just splash through the rock once it hit, wouldn't it?" Angie asks skeptically.

"I noticed that, see, look at this second move. It lets you control water pressure. I could increase the pressure, so it wouldn't just go through the rock," I say.

"Awesome!" Angie says, taking a swig of her water bottle.

"I just have to learn and practice the moves," I say, looking at the water whip.

"Cool beans," Angie replies, leaning back on the ledge and closing her eyes. The water whip is a more advanced move, on scroll eight, so there's a new stance. It takes me a couple of minutes to figure it out, but I have it down quickly. I move my arms as shown, easing the water out of my bottle, and it starts to work. Rapidly, a small stream of water swirls upward, and I see I can lengthen and move it just by moving my hands a certain way. But even with water pressure, this will never get me anywhere. It's tiny!

"Angie, I need more water. Look at this tiny water whip!" I exclaim. Angie looks up, and sees the small string of water. She sits up, grabs her water bottle, and dumps it near me. Struggling to keep my water whip intact with one hand, I use the other to raise up the dumped out water. I move it towards my whip slowly, and then swirl my hand to join it to the two sources. The water whip gets longer and wider, but still not wide enough. Beads of sweat form on my forehead, this move is hard! I lower the water to the ground of the ledge, forming a puddle, since the water won't fit in one bottle.

"That looks tough," Angie says sympathetically as I slowly sit down.

"No kidding," I reply.

"I wish I could help with firebending" Angie says, sighing.

"Maybe you could!" I exclaim, getting an idea.

"How? Fire doesn't solidify."

"Yes, but it can help us get more water!"

"Oh, I think I see what you're doing!" Angie exclaims. "Just kidding you're making no sense whatsoever."

"Yeah, I know. Remember the story of Katara? You know, the Avatar Aang's friend? I'm getting this idea from her. She escaped jail in the Fire nation by heating up and getting sweat. I need you to shoot fire near me. It will heat me up faster than running, and I might get enough water to make a good water whip!" I explain.

"Oh!" Angie stands up, spreads her feet out, and punches one hand forward. A blast of fire whooshes past my face, sweat dripping already. I bend it, adding it to the puddle. Another blast of red-orange fire. More sweat. After about five minutes, I have a large puddle. I lift my hands up, the puddle following. I jerk my arms out, and a water whip forms. It's definitely large enough now. The water glistens in the sunlight, hovering there in the warm air. I drop the water down, then open up scroll five. Water pressure. It looks pretty easy, so I try it out. I form the water whip _once again_, then try increasing the pressure. It works, and the whip thins as the water.. pressure-izes? Not too much, so the whip will still help us.

"Okay! Grab on to me, I'm going to try the whip!" I say to Angie. She walks over, and we link arms. I realize I'm going to have to do this with one hand. I'll try my best, I guess. I wrap the water whip around us, and it feels like a thick, smooth rope. It gets us wet, but doesn't go through us. The water pressure works! Good news there. Anyway, after the whip is wrapped, I shoot the remaints of it upwards, wrapping the end around the highest ledge it will reach, a couple of yards from the looks of it. Then I attempt to lift us upwards. Now, I have made effort before. But this, this is harder than _anything _I have ever experienced. We lift an inch. I look over at Angie. I can tell she isn't working, so that's good. Otherwise this whole thing would have no point. I lift us a couple more inches. Sweat pours down my face, way more than from the fire blasts. I lift us about three more inches, then leave us hovering in the air. Even this takes colossal effort. Ugh, why couldn't we just climb? I realize that if I gave up now, we would fall to the _bottom _of the mountain. That could kill us! So, using _every _last ounce of my energy, I yank my arm up, and heave us over the ledge. I instantly collapse on the ground, struggling for breath, the water splashing everywhere. Sweat soaks me to the core, and I have to say, I'm impressed with myself. I just did that! I tilt my head over to see Angie. A little damp around the waist from where the water was, but other than that unaffected.

"Great job! I feel bad though, I didn't have to make any effort," she says.

"Well that's the whole point, so mission accomplished," I manage to say in between heavy breaths.

"I suppose so," Angie agrees.

"But I'm _not _about to do that again," I say. "Let's take a short break." We sit down, (or sit up, in my case) and look up. We went up a good chunk of the mountain with my waterbending, and we're actually pretty close to the peak. I'll have to see how many more mountains we have after this. I grab my waterbottle, unscrew the lid, and try to bend some out of it. But then I remember, I used all of it for the whip. I look over at the sweat/water puddle, and bend a large sphere out of it. I press it over myself, the cool water soothing, especially in the cool, mountain air.

"Kira, why are you glowing?" Angie asks, backing away from me. I open my eyes. Sure enough, the water on me _is _glowing.

"Oh! I must have healing powers! This is awesome!" I exclaim. I can see earlier cuts and bruises heal over quickly. I bend the water off of myself, and off the cliff, since it's sweaty and can't be used for drinking. I keep a small sphere, and press it to my ear. It was stinging, so I assumed it had been burned when Angie was shooting fire blasts. It heals quickly, and I bend that water off the cliff. "We should keep climbing now," I say, grabbing my bag and standing up.

"Okay," Angie agrees, hopping up and beginning to climb. I start too. In less than thirty minutes, we reach the peak, which is a few feet wide and covered in snow. I check to see how many more mountains we have left to trek. Five, from the looks of it. This could take over a month. "Kira. I just got an idea, to make this quicker," Angie says, a sparkle in her eyes.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"I can shoot fire underneath me, making sort of a jet pack like effect. Watch!" Angie says, jumping up and spraying fire underneath her. She rises in the air Sometimes alternating fists to make fresh blasts. Some of the snow melts from the heat of it. Angie lowers herself and says, "Grab on to me! This will go so much faster than climbing!" So I grab on, leaving both her fists usable. She blasts fire underneath us, and I can tell it's not taking much effort. We shoot upwards, and she faces us forwards. This goes slower, but just barely. The heat from the fire makes us slick with sweat.

"Angie.. I think I'm slipping!" I shout over the roaring fire. She looks over at me, and nods. We're halfway between the third and fourth mountain.

"Hang on! We can be at the next mountain in a minute tops!" she replies. So I try to hang on. But with the heat, and the sweat, and the ash in my eyes, I know a minute won't cut it. I clasp my hands on her arms as hard as I can, but I'm slipping. Fast. I feel the fire nip my shoes. I slip more. The fire strikes my ankle. And then I lose my grip completely. I think I'm going to fall, I think I'll die, but Angie grabs my outstretched hand. I scream. The fire is blazing on my side, down my legs, across my face. I'm right in it. I feel it's hot arms. Wrapping me in them. I struggle to hang on to Angie's hand, the fire at my arm. And when I think I can't take it any longer, we land. I plummet into the snow, whimpering with pain. Angie hovers over me with worry.

"Kira I'm so sorry! I'm _so, so _sorry!" she apologizes, holding back tears, I can feel mine pouring down my face. I struggle to lift my arm, and melt some of the snow. Then I drop the water on me, and feel the burns healing. I sit up now, most of the pain relieved. Of course some more serious burns would take more than one time to heal.

"It's fine. I mean hey, at least we made it over those mountains! That saved us weeks of time!" I exclaim, trying to cheer up Angie.

"But still. I burned you! That isn't something a real friend would do!" she says.

"You're my friend. And it's not like you did that on purpose. We can find some other way to cross the last mountain. I promise. But for now. Let's rest," I say. And in the setting sun, and the cool air, that's exactly what we do.

_A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. I used this to build up their friendship, and help them get towards mastering their elements. Thanks for reading!__  
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	4. Chapter 4

We're hiking down the fifth mountain, progress slow, but steady. After the whole burning my face off incident, we sort of avoided bending to get us through here quicker. We're about halfway down, but this mountain is the most massive of them all.

"Look! Through the fog I think I can see a rainforest!" Angie says, holding onto a ledge with one hand and pointing with another. I wave my arm, and a large chunk of the fog clears away with a soft _swoosh_. And sure enough, the tops of enormous jungle trees are in sight. All this would be a lot easier if I had already mastered all four elements. I could earthbend us down this mountain, airbend run through the forest, sandbend through the desert, and waterbend through the ocean. But unfortunately, I haven't even mastered waterbending. I mean, other avatars just got a good hold on the element before they went to the next, right? I could probably start with earthbending..

"Hey Angie, I think I should start earthbending," I say, voicing my thoughts. Surprised at the sudden change of conversation, Angie says,

"Well, Okay. But how are you going to learn it? You only have waterbending scrolls."

"Badgermoles. I know they like to hang around warm, rocky areas, which is exactly where we are," I say.

"Awesome! And convinient. I think I see a cave down there, should we check it out?" Angie asks. I look, and see the opening she's talking about. Definitely where _something _would live.

"Sure!" I reply. So we climb down to the cave, which takes about twenty minutes. We jump down into it, landing on the hard, cool surface, and immediately regret it. Red eyes are staring at us in the cave. Hundreds of red eyes. We back away, not even blinking.

"Kira, I think we should go. I don't know what these are," Angie murmurs into my ear.

"Okay," I reply, eager to get out of here. Angie shoots a fire blast as a diversion so we can climb to safety. But in the bright light she creates, I see something we were not expecting. Those red eyes belonged to badger moles. And one of them, from the looks of it, was burned! Angie sees too, and we slowly approach the burnt one at the same time, as if in a silent agreement. It cowers away from us, but with us holding out our hands, it eventually sniffs them, and comes to us. I bend some of the dense fog from outside into liquid, and press it against the badgermole's burn. As it heals, it feels the pain being relieved, and seems to trust us from then on. The others do, too. I'm not sure if they understand English, but I say anyway,

"I'm Kira, and this is Angie. I'm.. the avatar. I need to learn earthbending, and I would like you to teach me. If you can understand me, uh, can you blink one eye?" I ask. To my surprise, the badgermole does.

"Kira this is amazing! The badgermoles know English!" Angie exclaims, hopping up and down excitedly. I laugh. It _is _pretty dang amazing, and lucky.

"Okay, now to learning some earthbending," I say. The badgermole nods, (If that's possible with its enormous neck) and slides it's foot. I boulder lifts from the ground. Wow, training starts immediately. Let's do this. I go into it's stance, and slide my foot. The ground trembles, but then a medium-sized rock lifts from the ground. "Wow. This is definitely harder than waterbending," I say, already sweating from the effort. I drop the boulder back into the ground. The badgermole slides its foot again. The same move repeats.

"Kira, I think he wants you to try again," Angie says, after I don't move for a few seconds.

"Oh, right," I say. I slide my foot. The rock is bigger this time, but just slightly. The badgermole slides its foot a third time, the same thing happening. So I slide my foot again. Each time, the rock gets a little bigger, and I see I can make it smaller too, if I concentrate hard enough. The badgermole makes me practice for hours on that one move, but by the end of the day, I can make a boulder almost as big as its. "Hey, are you a boy, or a girl?" I ask, suddenly wondering. It grunts, and I remember it can't _speak _English. "Uh.. Stomp your left foot if you're a boy, stomp your right if you're a girl," I say. The badgermole stomps his left foot. "Okay, I just didn't want to think of you as an 'it'," I explain. The badgermole nods, and slides his foot again. And our training continues.

Later in the night, I'm way too tired to keep practicing, so we decide to set up camp outside the cave. And by camp, I mean Angie starts a fire and we try to find some comfy dirt. As we lay there, Angie says,

"Kira, learning earthbending is a good thing, but won't we be stuck here awhile?" I think about that. It's true.

"Your're right. But what choice do I have? I have to master the elements, or I can't really be the avatar," I say.

"True. I guess we aren't really in any hurry to get to the Masters," she says. And we go to sleep.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast of the rest of my sandwich and a gulp of water, I head into the cave to continue my training. We work on the previous day's move a little, then we move on to a different one. Shaping a rock. I slide my foot, lifting a boulder from the ground, the watch the badgermole. He tilts his head, the moves his front paws to change the shape. I do the same. I tilt my head, and I feel a tingling in my hands. I can now shape the rock. I twist my hands, and a rough sphere appears. Cool! I want to try some more shapes. I straighten my arms, and a cube appears. I continue shaping, with the help of the badgermole, all day, and by evening, I've gotten pretty good.

"Angie, what do you do while I'm practicing all day?" I ask after training that day.

"I practice my firebending. Look at this!" she exclaims. She creates a ball of fire, then strings it out and shapes it into a square. And a circle.

"Hey, that's sort of what like I've been doing today!" I say, lifting a rock, then forming a square. And a circle. "Actually, that's exactly what I'm doing."

"Nice! It's not like I was watching or anything!" Angie says, laughing. Then we go to bed.

I continue my training for weeks until one day, while I'm practicing, I drop the pebbles I'm swinging around and sit on the ground.

"Wow. Earthbending is harder than waterbending by far. I'm still not that great, even after all this time" I say, turning to Angie.

"Remember how airbending was to Korra? Or earthbending to Aang? At least it's not that hard," Angie says, stepping into the cave.

"Very good point. But I think we should keep moving. I know how to move a rock, create a pillar from the ground, and a few other basics. I can learn more during our travel," I say.

"That's probably a good idea," Angie replies, nodding slightly.

"Well, let's set out tomorrow morning, does that sound good?" I ask, partly to Angie, partly to the badgermoles.

"Sounds great," Angie says. I turn to the badgermole. It nods its head.

"Fantastic. For now, let's get some sleep. We find our comfy dirt spots, and sleep.

The next morning, we get up, and immediately start packing. Which means zipping up our bags. That took less than a second, and we walked into the cave. "Thanks. For everything. I hope I can see you again sometime," I say, stroking the nose of my badgermole trainer. He nuzzles me.

"You know, badgermoles are pretty gentle, for their tough reputation," Angie notices.

"That's true.. Bye badgermoles. And, thank you again!" I say, and we pick up our bags. We walk out of the cave, staring at the expanse of mountain left to climb down.

"Heeey, any chance you could bend us down the rest of the mountain?" Angie asks, grinning.

"I'm not that good," I reply, nudging her playfully.

"Yeah yeah, let's go," she says, shrugging. I start bending the fog away as we climb down the remnant of the mountain, which to be honest isn't _that _much.

An hour later, we hop down onto the grass.

"Wow, I missed grass," Angie says, stroking it.

"You realize you just stroked grass, right?" I ask, hands on hips. We laugh.

"Yeah.. Well, look at this. We made it to the jungle," she says. I nod, and look into its depths, feeling ready for whatever it had for me.

_A/N: Yup, earthbending. Nothing much to say in the author's note, I just like having one. Aaaanyway, please review with suggestions!_


	5. Chapter 5

"Well, we made it to the rainforest. What now?" I ask.

"We rest? I just climbed down a lot of mountain," Angie suggests.

"That's probably a good idea," I say. We lay in the soft, smooth grass, and take a nap. The cool fog helps us fall asleep almost instantly.

I wake up to a thumping on my chest. "Angie, what the heck?" I grumble sitting up. But I see her fast asleep beside me. The thumping continues. "Angie, wake up. There's a bird on me!" I exclaim, trying not to move. Slowly, Angie opens her eyes, and stretches.

"What is it?" she asks, but knows once she looks over at me. "A messenger bird!" she says, surprised. In my shock, I thought it had been just another bird. But as I look closer, I see a roll of paper strapped to it.

"Okay, thanks bird. Could you stop jumping on me now?" I ask, wincing as the bird's claws threaten to protrude through my skin. After I say that, it stops, and hops to the ground beside me. I slip the paper from the birds back, and unroll it.

"What does it say?" Angie asks, leaning in.

"It says:

_Kira,_

_ Hi, it's Dave. If you're reading this, I'm just wondering how you're doing. It's a stupid law that I can't come with you on your journey. How is your waterbending going? Have you done a water whip? I recently learned that I'm a waterbender, too. But apparently, I got new scrolls with my name on them. I've only just started yesterday, though. I'm glad this idiot bird found you. Please write back!_

_Dave_"

"Cool! We should probably write back, but we don't have pen, or paper." Angie says.

"No, it's customary to send writing tools with the bird, check inside his little case/backpack thing," I say. Angie unstraps it, and dumps it out. A pen topples into the grass.

"Cool. I guess we can use the back of this paper to write back," Angie says, indicating to Dave's letter.

"Yup," I say, picking up the pen. I write:

_Dave,_

_Hi! Thanks for the letter, I missed you. I'm doing great! My waterbending is awesome, and yes, I have learned a water whip. Funny story, actually. But I'll get to that later._

I pause. "Should I include that I can earthbend, too?" I ask Angie.

"I don't think so. You know the avatar hunters, right? They're all like: 'blah blah blah avatar wants to kill us all blah blah blah'. And if word gets out somehow that you're the avatar, and you're practically alone in a huge rainforest, we're both dead meat," she replies.

"True. I'll leave that out," I say, nodding. I continue writing.

_Congratulations! I knew you could be a waterbender. What moves do you know? You'll never guess where I am right now. A rainforest! I just got done scaling a couple of mountains. I have a friend, her name is Angie. She's a firebender. It's definitely nice to have some company around. Okay, bye!_

_ Kira_

"How does that look?" I ask, showing Angie the letter.

"Great, but you speak too well of me. You should mention that I pick dirt from between my toes," she replies, laughing.

"Oh well. Wait, you pick dirt from between your toes?" I ask.

"Um, no," Angie says, glancing away.

"I'm just kidding. Remember, you told me that already," I say, laughing. She nods.

"Oh yeah, on the third mountain."

"Yup. Well... We should probably keep moving," I say, looking at the darkening sky. I roll up the letter, put it in the hawk's case, and strap it to his back again. I toss the pen inside, too, in case he lost all the other ones in the house. Which to be honest, is pretty likely. "Bring this to Dave. You know where he lives, you rascal," I say, patting the bird on the back. It flies off, and we start walking into the forest. Angie bends fire in her hand for light. Without it, the depths of the forest would be pitch black.

"Is this _your _messenger bird?" Angie asks, watching how I treat it.

"Yeah, he likes to pretend that he needs exact directions to deliver," I reply, sighing.

"Hey, this is sort of a random question, but don't you have parents? From what you told me it's just you and David," Angie says.

"Well, they died from cancer when I was one, and David was seven. For awhile we lived with our aunt and uncle, but when David turned eighteen last fall, we moved into our own house," I explain.

"Where did you get enough money for that?" Angie wonders.

"Inherited it. Now David makes enough money for us to keep living there, and, that's about it," I say.

"Do you guys fight? It seems like something siblings like you would have a habit of," Angie inquires.

"Yeah, we fight. But not often, we're pretty good friends. The only things we _would _fight about is what we spend our gold pieces on. You know, Dave wanted an Xbox, I wanted a Wii. Silly stuff," I say.

"Yeah. Makes sense. I'm an only child, I've been exploring since I was eight, but started leaving the city when I was ten. My parents are okay with it, I keep in touch through messenger hawk. We don't own a house, they're explorers too," Angie says.

"Do you, like, earn money for exploring?" I ask.

"No, but once we get enough survival skills we don't need that much money," Angie says. She reaches into her pocket, and comes out with a gold piece, five copper pieces, and two silver pieces.

"Ooh, fire nation money, I've never seen it before," I say in awe. I reach into my pack, and pull out five gold pieces, five silver pieces, and five copper pieces. "I brought some money along, just in case," I say.

"Wow, I've never seen water tribe money, even in my travels. You live in New York, right?" Angie asks.

"Yup," I reply. We continue in silence for awhile, nothing to talk about.

"Kira. We should find food. I don't know how much longer I can keep walking with an empty stomach," Angie complains. It's true, we hadn't eaten for days, we just kept drinking water.

"Me neither, but there has to be something edible in a vastly vegetated place like this," I reply, indicating with my hand around us. We start searching.

"Hey look at this flower! It's a white dragon bush. It's supposed to make good tea. Or it might be the white jade, which is poisonous," Angie says, pointing to a flower.

"Alot of people have made the mistake of guessing. Look at the bottom of the petals. Are they light pink, or completely white?" I ask.

"Light pink," Angie replies after peering underneath the flower.

"You're good to go, then. Pick the flower, but don't make tea just yet. We need to find more nourishing food, first," I say.

"Good idea," Angie says, nodding. We look around for a few more minutes.

"Have you found anything?" I ask, really hungry now.

"No, you?" she asks.

"Just some walnuts," I say.

"Walnuts grow in rainforests?" Angie asks, eyebrows raised.

"No clue. There's a lot of weird stuff in the rainforest," I reply, shrugging.

"Okay. Well, give me some," she says, holding her hands out. I drop half of them in which is two. She pours them into her mouth. "Yum. This is practically no food, but yum," she says. I nibble on one of mine. "Aren't you going to eat yours?" Angie asks.

"I want to preserve them," I reply.

"Oh. With our limited resources, I should probably do that too," she says.

"Aren't you an explorer? You should be an expert at this stuff!" I exclaim.

"I've never been in a rainforest. I've only been out of one town for two years, for Pete's sake," she says defensively.

"Okay, okay. I'm just hungry," I say. As if on cue, my stomach rumbles loudly.

"I guess we'll just keep looking" Angie sighs.

Hours later, we've finally come up with a decent meal. An egg to share, some more walnuts, raspberries, and of course, the tea.

"This still isn't much, but I was so hungry it feels like a feast," I comment through a mouthful of raspberries.

"Mm. I agree," Angie nods in between bites of egg. We're sitting around a small fire, in the center of the rainforest. For now, everything is peaceful.

_A/N: Short-ish chapter, but I thought they should eat. As always, please leave reviews with suggestions and critiques!_


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